The Origins of Life

From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language

John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry

The Origins of Life

From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language

John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry

Description

When John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry published The Major Transitions in Evolution, it was seen as a major work in biology. Nature hailed it as a book of "grand and daunting sweep...A splendid and rewarding tour de force." And New Scientist wrote that it captured "the essence of modern biology," calling it "an extremely significant book which, as a bonus, is very readable." Now, in The Origins of Life, Maynard Smith and Szathmáry have completely rewritten Transitions to bring their ideas to a wider audience of general readers. Here is a brilliant, original picture of how life evolved on earth, focusing primarily on six major transitionsdramatic breakthroughs in the way that information was passed between generations. The authors offer illuminating explorations
of the origin of life itself, the arrival of the first cells with nuclei, the first reproduction by sexual means, the appearance of multicellular plants and animals, the emergence of cooperative animal societies, and the birth of language.

The Origins of Life represents the thinking of two leading scientists on questions that engage us allhow life began and how it gradually evolved from tiny invisible cells into whales and trees and human beings.

The Origins of Life

From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language

John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry

Table of Contents

PrefaceLife and InformationThe major transitionsFrom chemistry to heredityFrom the RNA world to the modern worldFrom heredity to simple cellsThe origin of eukaryotic cellsThe origin of sexGenetic conflictLiving togetherThe evolution of many-celled organismsAnimal societiesFrom animal to human societiesThe origin of languageGlossaryNotesFurther readingIndex

The Origins of Life

From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language

John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry

Author Information

John Maynard Smith is an internationally renowned biologiest, widely respected for the originality of his ideas and quality of his thinking. He is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex. Eors Szathmary is a Professor at the Collegium Budapest, in Hungary.

The Origins of Life

From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language

John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry

Reviews and Awards

"Moving speedily from epoch to epoch, fueled by a few important concepts (such as the division of labor) and explaining all the genetics they use, Smith and Szathmary show `just how difficult it has been to evolve complex organisms whose genes cooperate rather than compete'.... Compact, dense, formidable yet accessible, this book exposes readers to the cutting edge in theoretical evolutionary biology."--Publishers Weekly